The Prestea-Huni Valley Municipal Works Engineer, George Kojo Scott, has indicated that victims of the Apiate explosion will be relocated from their temporal shelter to a new place.
According to George Scott, officials from the Works Department, Physical Planning and mining company, Future Global Resources (FGR) are preparing a new location and are hopeful that works will be completed soon.
George Kojo Scott mentioned that the site already has some existing structures which will be converted for various purposes to meet the needs of the affected residents. He indicated that a conference room will be created for visitors who come to see the victims.
According to the Engineer, the site is close to Apiate and will enable residents who are farmers to start farming as soon as possible.
“We are also putting up a place of convenience. There is also a borehole here both manual and mechanized so the water situation is quite good. We have improved security and have fixed street lights to light up the place. In all these, we will have a committee made up of people here to take charge of happenings, to avoid any chaotic situation.”
George Kojo Scott
George Scott stated that camps which were donated by the Red Cross Society and Goldfields, are being put up for the victims.
“The white ones are for households consisting of the wife, the husband and children. The bigger ones can take 10 people at a time and comes with a bed. But the issue is that the big ones sit on the bare ground. So what we will do is to cast concrete of about 3 inches so that when it rains, they will be safe. For the small ones, they come with a base and also waterproof.”
George Kojo Scott
Goerge Scott indicated that the over 500 Apiate explosion victims are expected to be relocated to the Dumasi Resettlement Site which was presented by mining company, Future Global Resources (FGR).
The first group of residents affected by the Apiate explosion are still at the St. Michael’s Parish Church at Bogoso where they are temporarily sheltering and the second group of victims are also sheltering at the Bogoso Golden Hotel.
NADMO calls for aid
Meanwhile, the Deputy National coordinator of NADMO Sedzi Amedonu , has appealed to corporate institutions and benevolent organizations to come to the aid of individuals affected by the explosion at Bogoso-Apiate in the Western Region.
“We need mosquito nets and soaps. We also need food items. There is a committee receiving these items in cash and food; any donation is welcome. If you saw the pictures then you will know that nobody was able to pick anything from their homes before the explosion hit them; every little [donation] will help.”
Sedzi Amedonu
According to Mr. Amedonu, government is looking at ways to help rebuild the town and the job of NADMO is to look at the humanitarian issues that have arisen. The Deputy NADMO boss indicated that his outfit is yet to start any distribution to the affected victims.
“No distribution is going on. What’s happening is that the food items are being used to prepare food for the affected victims.”
Sedzi Amedonu
Read Also: Engagement With Investors Impacting Market Positively – Charles Adu Boahen
